Half time: Bristol 9 Northampton 20: Three penalties from fly-half Ed Barnes kept Bristol in this European Challenge Cup clash with Northampton at the Memorial Stadium.

But the Saints, who racked up 66 points a week ago against Bristol, outscored the hosts by three tries to nil.

Despite being more inventive in attack, Bristol were made to pay for some poor defending.

They left huge gaps at the side of rucks and, on one occasion, allowed scrum-half Ben Foden to go through and hold off his opposite number Shaun Perry for the first try on 16 minutes.

Fly-half Stephen Myler converted, adding to his earlier penalty. Barnes had also replied with three points.

Barnes kicked Bristol to 10-6 but the home side were behind their own sticks again on 23 minutes when wing Paul Diggin was in acres of space from a Myler cross-field-kick.

Former Bristol Under-21 Jon Clarke switched play, handed off full-back Luke Arscott and got the nod from the touch judge for the try despite Perry's last ditch tackle.

Barnes added two more penalties before the Saints crossed for a third time this afternoon.

On 34 minutes, Bristol looked like they had Foden sewn up but they couldn't prevent the offload and centre Chris Mayor coasted over.

Myler missed two conversions to keep Bristol in the game. The deficit could have been cut further on the stroke of half time but Barnes' 40 metre penalty dropped short of the uprights.